Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Free

There are things in life that oppress our spirits. They burn at our very souls. We are tormented by them. They can be physical, they can be emotional, they can be spiritual or they can even incorporate all three worlds, making a normal life seem impossible, whatever normal is.

At the root of it though is always something spiritual. Many refuse to recognize this.

I have known many people that have faced varying degrees of challenge in their lives that went from the oppression I speak of in the first paragraph to total and consistent joy. The joy did not come from resolution to their oppressed states. It came from outside themselves, from interacting with others and pointing themselves toward God and more directly, Jesus Christ.

Do you want to be free? Seek Him out.

Luke 13:10-13 
10 On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, 11 and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, Woman, you are set free from your infirmity. 13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.

John 8:34-36
34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

We are oppressed regularly by our common enemy. He can create physical, emotional and spiritual anguish that seems impossible to overcome, and it would be were it not for Jesus. We are not alone in our journeys. We need to take advantage of what our Fellow Traveler has to offer. He can set us free from so much, take us to spiritual heights that we have never reached and enable us in ways we have never been able.

He wants us to be free from whatever is binding us, keeping us down or keeping us from becoming what He intended for us to be. The possibilities become endless once we are free to consider them. 

Also, I would offer a warning to those seeking the freedom Christ offers. Do not be fettered by well intended brethren that want to shackle you in other ways. Refuse to be contained by their rules and regulations. Follow only what was originally set down in scripture and express your freedom as you are led by the Spirit. Be truthful with God and His people about who you are, about what you think and feel. If God wants to change you or them, He will. 

Break free and grow. Become part of God's Royal Priesthood and not mere sheep to be herded about by the control freaks. Live as Christ intended. The sin is Gone. He took it away. Only victory lies ahead. Let's live that way. Let's be free.